{"id":868095,"date":"2026-08-25T17:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868095\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T17:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:28:23","slug":"afl-rising-star-2026-who-won-votes-jagga-smith-second-highest-votes-behind-nick-daicos-harry-dean-second-place-willem-duursma-third-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868095\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Rising Star 2026: Who won, votes, Jagga Smith, second-highest votes behind Nick Daicos, Harry Dean second place, Willem Duursma third place"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jagga Smith has claimed the 2026 AFL Rising Star, becoming just the second Blue to win the award. <\/p>\n<p>Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/afl?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkafl-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-afl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday night Smith, the pick three of the 2024 Draft, joined Sam Walsh (2019) as Carlton\u2019s only winner.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WHAT&#8217;S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, Smith drew 54 votes to win the award \u2013 the same number as Walsh, and the equal-most since North\u2019s Harry Sheezel in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Only Collingwood\u2019s Nick Daicos (60 votes) in 2022 has polled higher in a Rising Star count, with Smith following in Daicos\u2019 footsteps as the second Oakleigh product to win the award.<\/p>\n<p>The Rising Star is a significant achievement for the midfielder whose 2025 season was cruelly rocked by an ACL tear before it could even begin.<\/p>\n<p>Blues Smash Dockers Ahead of Finals | 00:47<\/p>\n<p>But despite a year out of the game, Smith came back ready to go in 2026, playing every game this year after debuting in Opening Round.<\/p>\n<p>Smith claimed the 2026 Rising Star ahead of teammate Harry Dean and West Coast\u2019s No.1 pick Willem Duursma.<\/p>\n<p>To be eligible for the AFL Rising Star Award, each year\u2019s nominated players must be under the age of 21 at January 1 and have played no more than 10 AFL games to the start of that season.<\/p>\n<p>They must not have been suspended by the AFL or State League tribunals during the season. <\/p>\n<p>FINAL RISING STAR VOTES<\/p>\n<p>Jagga Smith: 54 (10 1sts)<\/p>\n<p>Harry Dean: 39 (1 1st)<\/p>\n<p>Willem Duursma: 29<\/p>\n<p>Cooper Trembath: 28<\/p>\n<p>Jobe Shanahan: 9<\/p>\n<p>Leo Lombard: 2<\/p>\n<p>Mitch Edwards, Dyson Sharp, Sully Robey, Ty Gallop: 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jagga Smith has claimed the 2026 AFL Rising Star, becoming just the second Blue to win the award.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-868095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}